


I Love You

by AliSunshine93



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: AU, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, F/M, I Love You, I haven't written in so long, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Spoilers, Twitter Prompt, Zerith - Freeform, todobaku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25214830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliSunshine93/pseuds/AliSunshine93
Summary: This is a compilation of one-shots/drabbles that were a part of a twitter prompt started by @/vanillalattae95 on Twitter! It's a series of 100 different ways to say I love you and I asked my followers to give me a number and a pairing and that I would write them a short and sweet little thing. If y'all enjoy please leave a comment and some kudos! My twitter is: @/icarussuncosAs always I do not own anything!
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki/Todoroki Shouto, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. On My Way Home (TodoBaku; BNHA; M)

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter was requested by @/SpilledMilk25. A TodoBaku pairing from BNHA with the prompt: "I'll pick it up after work" but I am changing it slightly to "I'll pick it up on my way home."

Two years, 18 weeks, 4 days, and 13 hours.

That's how long it has been since Shouto Todoroki agreed to go on a date with Katsuki Bakugou after a rough mission which led to strong drinks and belligerent confessions at two in the morning. Between the two of them, their friends aren't sure which one is more emotionally stunted nor how they have been together this long with their horrible communication skills, but somehow they have sloshed through over two years of being exclusive despite it.

If you asked Shouto, he would say nothing much has changed in their relationship. They still compete, they still speak their minds, and they damn sure still argue. Except now it isn't their fists that are flying towards each other faces, but their lips instead. Between harsh breaths, sighs, and gasps they fight about who is the better hero, who saved more people, who should cook tonight, who they should invite over (no one if Katsuki can get Shouto off first.) It's because of this added benefit of passion, but not much else changing, that Shouto begins to doubt if Katsuki is as serious about the relationship as he is.

"Well, Shouto, has he told you he loves you?" Ochako asks him one day while they are sitting at a local coffee shop on a mutual day off. They're wearing absolutely ridiculous and obvious disguises trying to blend in, but so far no one has interrupted their moment of normalcy.

Her question makes Shouto pause. In the time that they had been together there had been no mention of the L word from either of them. It was something Shouto wasn't accustomed to growing up and he hadn't known much about the emotion beyond his siblings until he met his friends and fellow heroes at UA. Even then, he had absolutely no experience with romantic love and if you had asked him two years ago what that felt like he would have stared at you as if you'd grown another head and congratulated you on discovering your body modification quirk. Now though, he isn't so sure. He definitely feels lust for Katsuki and on some platonic level love has always been there when they were growing up, but now at 25 years old and more than two years of passion under their belts could he discern the difference?

"No." He answers simply, honestly. She doesn't say much after that, letting her silence speak volumes to the whispers in his head telling him he is wasting his time with someone who sees him as nothing more than an easy fuck. They depart soon after with a hug and a promise to catch up again next week. She lingers just a moment like she wants to say something else, but decides against it and walks away with a small smile.

Shouto is a mess. Walking home he tries to think of any identifying factors in their relationship that would indicate that Katsuki loves him. He comes up blank. Sure, they have sex. Sure, they live and sleep together. Sure, Katsuki tolerates him more than anyone else in their friend group, but even when he confessed while he was drunk it was more of an "I'm attracted to you" rather than an "I have feelings for you." Was it Shouto's fault he didn't clarify? Had he been living a lie this whole time?

Arriving home and seeing how their belongings intermingled did not help. Katsuki wasn't meant to be home for another hour and that just left time for Shouto to stew. By the time he came through the door, there was a well worn path in their carpet in the living room from Shouto's pacing, and a confused, desperate look in Shouto's eyes that demanded reassurance.

"Are you okay?" Katsuki immediately asks while placing his bag down full of his gear from his early workout session at the company gym.

As he takes a step toward Shouto, Shouto takes a step back. He needs space. He knows if he is smothered by Katsuki's personality, smell, body that he will cave and not get off his chest what he needs to ask. What he _needs_ to know.

"Why have you never told me you love me?" He asks, whisper quiet. If it weren't for the stiffening of Katsuki's entire body he would have thought he had said it too quietly.

"HA!?" Katsuki jerks back from Shouto's space like he was the one burned, as if Shouto had activated his flames, as if he would ever use his quirk against Katsuki in a way he didn't ask.

"I just--" Shouto starts, but grabs his head- his hair showing obvious signs of fingers running through it for an extended amount of time, "I got to thinking that maybe we have different ideas about what we are."

"And who put that idea in your head!? Was it Momo!? You know she had a thing for you for awhile." Katsuki is angry now, pacing a space directly perpendicular to the one Shouto had before. "Oi, I bet it was that fucking nerd, Deku! I'll fucking kill him!" Katsuki reaches for his keys that he laid on top of his bag and starts to head towards the door.

"Katsuki, wait. We need to talk about this." Shouto takes a deep breath, comfortable in the knowledge he has at least stopped trying to leave. "Do you love me?"

"What do you fucking think, IcyHot?" It's not a confession by any means but it is stated with such emotion that it shakes Shouto for a moment. He continues with just a glance over his shoulder, his hand still on the doorknob. "Do you really think I would just ask _anyone_ to live with me? That I would just cook for anyone?" He turns now, stalking towards Shouto with a fierce, almost disappointed look on his face. "Do you think I would just allow anyone in my space? In my life? In my family's lives?" A step closer now, and Shouto is crowded. All he can breathe is Katsuki and it clouds his mind as it always does. Katsuki is like a drug and he is addicted. "Do you think I would just fuck anyone? That I would let just anyone fuck _me_?" 

"No, I--" Shouto starts but he feels choked. The telltale sign of tears clouding his vision, but he hasn't cried since the night Katsuki confessed- when they had lost 3 children to a villain attack on a school- and he doesn't want to start now.

"Do you see me asking why you've never told me you love me?" Katsuki whispers against his mouth and Shouto positively shakes, a sharp breath escaping past his lips. 

"No." 

"And why do you think that is?" 

Shouto leans forward trying to cement contact with his vice, but Katsuki leans away so they can look eye to eye. He wants an answer. 

"I-I don't know. Because it doesn't matter to you?" 

By the way Katsuki scoffs and completely backs off, Shouto knows he got the question wrong. His mind shakes but he can't seem to figure out what Katsuki wants to hear- what will make him stay? 

"Think again. I'm leaving. I'll-" He pauses, the anger completely leaving his body leaving behind only exhaustion and what Shouto would identify as sadness. "I'll be back later." 

With that, Katsuki is gone and Shouto stumbles back and sits on their couch. _Their_ couch in _their_ living room in _their_ apartment. Even with Katsuki gone, he can't escape him and he starts to wonder if this is what everyone meant when they said two men with communication issues wouldn't make it in the long run. With his head in his hands, he thinks maybe he should call Izuku. After all, that is where Katsuki said he was going to go and Shouto should probably warn him. 

Picking up the phone, he hits his third speed dial and waits for the line to connect. "Shouto? It's not like you to call off duty, is everything okay?" 

Izuku's voice and tone of concern immediately lance through Shouto and he isn't quite sure what to say. He knows that his and Katsuki's problems are his and Katsuki's problems alone, but it's hard to not rely on a friend who so clearly wants to help.

"Izuku..." He begins, "... I just wanted to let you know Katsuki may be on his way over there... and he may be looking for a fight." Shouto is almost proud of himself with how steady his voice sounds despite the war that is waging in his body. 

"What!? Why!? What did I do?!" 

"Nothing... I asked him a question and he assumed you were the one putting ideas in my head. I apologize that I did not deter him." 

"Shouto... you don't need to apologize. What.. ah.. if you don't mind me asking, ideas were put in your head?" 

Shouto is at a crossroads- does he confide? I mean, after all, Katsuki is probably already on the way over there and he is already going to punch first and ask questions later, so what's the harm in Izuku knowing? 

"I asked him why he has never told me he loves me." 

There is silence, and then Izuku is laughing.

"Y-You asked him _that_!?" More giggles. Did he just snort? 

"I fail to see why this is so entertaining to you." Shouto feels foolish for confiding in Izuku. After all, Izuku and Ochako are two of the most emotional people he knows and probably confessed their love for each other before they even went on a first date. 

"I-I'm sorry, Shouto! I promise I'm not laughing _at_ you." It sounds across the line like Izuku takes a few steadying breaths before he speaks again, "Well no wonder he got upset. Of course he loves you."

Shouto sits up, ramrod straight and clutches his phone a little tighter in his grasp. "How can you sound so sure? He has never said such a thing."

"Shouto..." Izuku sighs, "... both of you are clueless. Kacchan isn't one for words- he is one for actions. He probably won't tell you he loves you verbally until the day you get married but I bet he has been saying it for years. And I bet right now that he is feeling just a little upset and insecure that you haven't noticed. He probably isn't coming here- he's probably beating himself up about not proving it to you the way he thought he was." 

Shouto is frozen. He thinks about the look on Katsuki's face right before he left- the words he said about how he wouldn't let just anyone in his personal life. He thinks about the times that Katsuki has stayed up late for him to get home, because he wanted to make sure he was safe. He thinks about how Katsuki always wants to be the one to cook to make sure that he is fed. He thinks about how Katsuki will always make sure that his pleasure is paramount. He thinks about the gifts he gets for him and his siblings and mom (and begrudgingly Endeavor) for holidays and birthdays, because he knows they are important to him. Shouto thinks about all the times Katsuki has gotten something for Shouto that he knew he enjoyed particularly soba. All the memories of the past two years and some change is rolling around in Shouto's head and he wonders how it never got put together for him before. 

"Izuku, I have to go. Thank you." Shouto immediately hangs up and presses the number one speed dial on his phone. A picture of he and Katsuki at the spring festival last year lights up briefly before the call connects.

"Yeah?" He hears from the other line and the voice sounds shaky, distorted as if it had been under duress for some time. 

"I know, Katsuki." Shouto breathes, clutching a hand in his shirt over his heart, "The reason you have never asked me is because you knew. Because through my actions you could tell that I love you. And I'm sorry it took me so long to understand." 

The silence is deafening, but he thinks he hears a small intake of breath and a sniffle. Before he can address it, Katsuki is back with a smirk he can practically feel, "Yeah, well, maybe I could have expressed it better."

"No, Katsuki, you expressed it just fine- I just wasn't listening." Shouto stops and waits for a response, but the line is quiet- the only indication they are still connected is the wind in the background on Katsuki's end. "Kat... will you please come home?" 

"Oi, you aren't getting rid of me that easy. I just needed some air- had to think about pummeling Deku for his stupid fucking mouth." Katsuki clears his throat and it feels like nothing has changed- like this life changing moment didn't happen today. "Have you eaten? Want me to get some soba?"

Shouto almost laughs out loud at the question knowing that he already knows the answer, but also that this equivocation had just run through his mind not five minutes earlier. 

"I would love some."

He can hear his smile as he says, "Alright, I'll pick it up on my way home." 

"I'll be waiting. And I love you, too." 

The call ends and Shouto sits and basks in the quiet. 

Two years, 18 weeks, 4 days, and 19 hours.

That's how long it took Shouto to realize that he and Katsuki Bakugou were one hundred percent, irrevocably in love. He knew they would make it. 


	2. Hold Your Hand (Zerith; FFVIIR; T)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> READ NOTES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This second chapter was requested by @/psychneux. A Zerith pairing from FFVII with the prompt: "Can I hold your hand?" 
> 
> WARNING:
> 
> This chapter will have SPOILERS from FFVIIR. I am using information from Crisis Core, the OG FFVII, Advent Children, and FFVIIR here OKAY. Do not read this unless you want to be spoiled. There is also canon-divergence because we don't have the remaining games for the remake yet so I am taking artistic liberties.

Aerith thinks, as she awakens for the second time, that this time will be the last time. 

Her first cycle did not go as planned. She grew up, became a lab rat, lost her mother, fell in love with a boy with the energy of a puppy and the eyes of the terrifying sky, and then she lost him too. Then she met another boy- eerily similar to the first, made friends, became a lab rat _again,_ tried to save the world, died, and then kind of saved the world at the last second? Granted she was reunited briefly with the puppy- she knew it wouldn't be for long. The world would need her again, after all she is the last living Ancient.

So this time, when she awakes and is fully aware of everything that had happened the first time around- she is determined to make a change. She doesn't want Zack to die. _She_ doesn't want to die. She knows it's the plan for her- she knows that the Arbiters are going to do whatever they can to keep the timeline true, but for once in her life she wants to be selfish. She wants to find a way where she and the people she loves can live to see the world they saved. 

For years, she goes through the motions wondering if any one little action or word is what it is going to take to get the timeline off course. But then one day it happens. From the ceiling falls her first love, Zack Fair. He looks just as she remembers him and does everything she can to mimic what she said the first time around. For months, they continue on. He gives her the signature pink bow she wears in her hair housing Holy. He builds her cart. One day, just a few short hours before he is set to depart on the mission she knows will be his end- he asks to see her list that she wrote.

"Well... there are a lot of things on this list. But most of all... I just want to spend time with you." She knows he wasn't meant to hear this yet, but she's hoping it is the nudge he needs to survive. She wishes she could warn him about all that he is about to face. When he is about to leave, she asks if she can escort him to the railway system that will take him from her sector back up to Headquarters. 

As they walk, they brush hands slightly and she notices a blush sitting on his cheeks. She wishes for the millionth time to be able to experience all these feelings new and fresh with him again, but in her mind they have already been together for years. With only a mile left to go, Zack stops her with a hand around her wrist, his fingers trailing down to her fingertips and jostling them slightly. "Can I... hold your hand?" He asks, mumbling slightly. 

She shines him a smile she hopes is dazzling and convincing and not at all sad, and entwines her fingers with his holding tight enough for them both. Every step is equal parts harder and easier after that, because she knows in her very soul that she has not done enough to spare this man his life. With a kiss and some tears, she wishes him a good luck and a see you soon before letting him get aboard the train. 

And as such, years pass. One day she is tending the flowers in the Church when an all-encompassing pain shoots through her chest and her head. She can't breathe, she can't think, and now she at least knows that the death of the love of her life doesn't hurt any less no matter how many times you cycle through it. Now, more than ever, she is determined to change fate. So as she meets Cloud and the gang again, she steers them in a way she hopes will do just that. Working against Sephiroth, who the planet whispers is also reborn just as she, she does what she can to ensure he both doesn't win but that destiny itself is changed.

At the crossroads, she pleads with everyone to follow her and to alter the timeline. With a resounding yes they crossover and defeat the Arbiters of Fate that had hindered them all this time, and Aerith looks up at the sky she once thought so terrifying. A flash of nostalgia courses through her and she wonders yet again if she has done enough. 

Suddenly, she feels light. Not on her physical being but inside of her. The pain of Zack's loss that lingered so heavily in her body is now gone and it's like she can breathe for the first time in years. She frantically looks around, a chill down her spine and slowly racking through her whole body, when she hears the planets whisper of, "... _alive._ " 

Tears spring from her eyes at the confirmation. She shakes off the worries of her friends and urges them to continue on to Kalm where she feels this tugging force. She tries to keep her expectations and hopes low- she isn't sure she can handle getting there and being wrong about what she feels the planet is telling her. But then the voice in her head reminds her that the planet has never led her wrong before. It only speaks in truths. 

Upon entering the town, she nods as the rest of the group decides to rest at the Inn and get the story on Sephiroth. While she is eager to know if anything has changed in Cloud's memories she is more eager to find out where this pull is coming from. They shoot her strange looks as she waves them off and ventures into town, following this feeling to one of the houses on the east side that they didn't explore when they had come through here during the first cycle. It was always locked. 

This time, the door opens with no hesitation. She peeks her head in, too choked and nervous to even offer a greeting in this stranger's home, and seeing no one she decides to step inside and softly close the door behind her. Her eyes are frantic trying to take in everything, _anything_ , that could be an indication that this is someone she knows. Someone she loves. It's a simple one story home with what looks like a living room, a kitchen, and two doors on the back wall. She assumes one is a bedroom and the other a bathroom or closet. She begins to walk around the space, touching things, checking for dust, wondering where the homeowner is. 

In the back left corner by the entertainment center is a desk. On that desk sits what looks like handfuls of letters. She slowly walks over, her heart feeling like it's about to eject itself from her body, when her eyes fall on the one on top. All she is able to make out is, "Dear Aerith..." before she gasps and jumps away as if there were a midgar zolom itself hidden in the words. 

A shuddering breath escapes her as she wills herself strong enough and sends a quick prayer to the planet for strength. Before she can get back to the desk however, one of the doors on the back wall opens and out steps a man she almost doesn't recognize. 

This man has short, cropped hair, and his skin is slightly paler than the last time she had seen him. His body still looks muscular but not like that of a prior SOLDIER 1st Class. His eyes still shine bright blue and green, clouded with tears that are streaming down his cheeks in rivers and across the scars on his cheek. This man has aged slightly, his shoulders heavy with a burden she didn't know she recognized.

"A-Aerith? Is that... really you?" His hand reaches out like he wants to touch her, but is afraid she will disappear.

She understands that feeling, but is less apprehensive and she falls into his arms and melts into him like it was only a few days that had separated them instead of many years. The sobs that wrack her body almost embarrass her, but then she feels his form shaking and wetness on her crown that eases that away. Her hands paw at him, clawing at the fabric on his chest, reaching up to his shoulder, in his hair, and finally his face. She grabs his cheeks and stares deeply into his eyes- searching for the confirmation that it _is_ him. He is here and he is alive, and he isn't a figment of her imagination or an apparition in the Lifestream where they had last seen each other. She's sure he doesn't remember this- none of the others remember the previous cycle after all- but she does and she has to know he isn't going to fade away. 

When he looks back at her, sniffling and clutching her much in the same way, she is sure that this is happening. That this is a gift from the planet itself. More tears escape her body, of happiness and of pain, as she drags his face down to hers and seals their lips together in a kiss. This isn't like their ones before that were soft and chaste, and just enough. This is searing and passionate- a testament to all they have been through and all the time that has been lost between them. He kisses her back with such enthusiasm and devotion in his whispers between kisses that she could swear he knew exactly where they stood and what was happening with the planet, with the Lifestream, with Sephiroth- everything. 

Eventually they part, but just enough to catch their breath- their foreheads pressed tightly together and thumbs stroking the apples of each others cheeks. 

"Are you real?" He whispers against her lips, and she almost laughs at the question coming from him of all people. 

"Are _you_?" She returns and he smiles before sealing his mouth once more against hers, his hands traveling down to her waist and wrapping around it, lifting her up while she grabs his shoulders for stability. With their chests pressed together it is a reassurance for them both to be able to feel their hearts pounding so strongly in each others embrace.

He puts her down after a moment with such hesitancy it seems he is afraid she will break or run away, but instead she grabs his wrist and starts tugging him towards the door.

"Where are we going?! I just got you here!" He says, pulling on her and guiding her back to a wall. 

Crowded by him, and one hundred percent okay with it, she giggles and places her hands on his chest, pushing slightly. "There is someone with spiky, blonde hair you're going to want to see!" 

His eyes widen slightly before the dazzling smile she fell in love with crosses his face and crinkles his eyes. "Cloud is here!?" 

She doesn't know quite exactly how their memories align with the changed events, but it warms her heart that he still holds such adoration for the wannabe SOLDIER 1st Class. Not for the first time she is glad that she told Cloud not to fall in love with her this cycle. She just hopes he listened. She nods and places a quick peck on his cheek before leading him back towards the door.

When they step outside the house, the sun is bright and she sees the group standing outside the Inn looking like they are about to start a search party for her. She waves them down and she sees Cloud stiffen completely before clutching Tifa to ground him. Despite whatever it is she and Zack will have to explain to him to clear his memories, she knows they can all do it together, and she is looking forward to doing it at his side. 

She looks up at him as he seemingly hasn't taken his eyes off of her, and with the sun shining behind his head she thinks he looks like an angel. Her angel.

He nods sideways to the group and starts to walk over, but with a slight jog to catch up and a smile she grabs hold of his hand and asks, "Can I hold your hand?" 


End file.
